


anticipated surprise

by joshriku



Category: AI: The Somnium Files (Video Game)
Genre: Coming Out, Developing Relationship, Gen, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22350631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joshriku/pseuds/joshriku
Summary: Date realizes he's bisexual.No one is shocked.
Relationships: Date Kaname & Everyone, Date Kaname/Kagami Araya
Comments: 32
Kudos: 167





	anticipated surprise

_ Isn’t it sad that the inspector is a man?  _ Date muses to Aiba, holding onto the papers he didn’t want to fill on his way to Boss’ office.  _ He’s really cute. _

**I don’t get it,** Aiba shoots back.  **Why is it sad?**

_ Because I can’t ask him out like that,  _ Date finishes like it should be obvious. Wasn’t she listening?  _ He’s not a girl. _

**Certainly.**

**But why is that stopping you?**

Date stops walking for a second. Why was that stopping him? The inspector is cute and Date would not mind taking him out for dinner, see where things go… he shakes his head.  _ Because I don’t like men? _

**Why?**

_ Um…  _ Date’s brain stops functioning.  _ I… _

_ Men don’t have boobs. _

**…**

_ … _

**...**

**Surely you are aware of your own body.**

_ Yeah. _

**Date, can you do something for me?**

Date resumes walking because it’s bound to be weird to be standing in the middle of the hallway talking to an invisible AI in your head. Aiba continues,  **Bring your hand to your chest.**

_ …Why? _

**Just do it!**

Date brings his hand to his chest.  _ Okay, what now? _

**What do you call the thing you’re holding?**

_ …Chest? _

**Do you happen to have another word for it?**

_ …Boobs. Oh. _

**Yes.**

**So in conclusion, men have boobs too.**

Date runs out of arguments. 

**They’re also small, like the ones you like.**

_ I appreciate all boobs!!!! Stop spreading misinformation!!!!!! _

Aiba sighs, but Date hopes she’s a little bit amused. She wasn’t wrong, either way, and neither was he—he did appreciate all breasts. He has never seen Inspector Kagami without a shirt on, but—

**Date.**

**Your body temperature is rising. Your heartbeat is accelerating. We’re about to meet Boss, so I suggest you stop thinking about that and focus.**

_ Damn it! _

So maybe Date liked men. Maybe he did. At the end of the day, what did all that matter? If someone is good-looking for him, then that’s what mattered. But maybe it’s wrong for him to say he likes men.

How many men has he  _ liked _ the way he likes women? Perhaps he doesn’t like men—perhaps he just wants to stick his dick somewhere.

Yeah.

It’s better this way, too—it’d be so harmful and disrespectful to LGBT people if they were seen as ‘only wanting to have sex’ and Date unconsciously gave them that reputation. Maybe it’s too  _ big  _ of a deal to say he likes men.

Mama, Pewter, Renju—all very respectful and honorable people he treasured. Date didn’t fit in with them.

Paperwork done, he steps out the office and heads to look for dinner for him and Mizuki.

“Oh, Date!” Man of the hour. Inspector Kagami is looking up to him, happy to see him. “Are you going home?”

“I’m gonna buy food for me and Mizuki,” Date grins. “Do you want to come with me?”

“Really?! I- I’d love to! I know a place that sells great food at great price!”

Date’s smile is hard to keep off his face, for some reason. “That’s perfect. Our payment here isn’t as high as I’d expect it to be.”

“Right!” Kagami walks animatedly beside him, chatting about how he loves his job but he wishes it paid a little more.

It’s funny and it’s easy. Aiba is surprisingly quiet for once.

“What got you in such a good mood?” Mizuki asks, frowning at him. “Did you meet a girl or something? The receptionist finally agreed to date you?”

“Am I just not allowed to be happy?” Mizuki huffs at him. Date shrugs. “I was just talking to Kagami.”

“Oh! You remember his name now!” Mizuki exclaims happily. “What did you talk about?”

“It’s not your business,” Date replies if only to rile her up. 

It works.

A piece of sushi lands on his face, courtesy of Mizuki. “Ow! Hey!”

“That’s for being stupid,” Mizuki sticks out her tongue, “I’m never asking you anything again! Okay! I don’t care!”

**She will talk to you again** , Aiba says in a reassuring way.

_ Yeah, of course she will. _

**Why aren’t you telling her? All you talked about was your job, life, and mundane things.**

Date ignores her for a while. To him it felt a bit… personal. A weird personal talk. 

But then… “We just talked about work,” Date offers as a peace offering.

Mizuki smiles. “I’m glad!”

_ Why does she sound like she knows something I don’t? _

**Hm. Why, indeed.**

**□ □ □**

“Date!” Kagami approaches him. Somehow, Date can tell he’s smiling, and it’s already making him feel cheerier to know he’s responsible for it. “I need to head off but I just wanted to say hi.”

“You came just to say hi?”

“S-sounds stupid, doesn’t it?” he chuckles, nervous, fiddling with his mask. “You were just here so…”

“Hi,” Date smiles sweetly, tilting his head. “Do you want to go eat something after you’re done?”

“Ah- really? Would you like that?”

Date laughs, “Would  _ you _ ?”

“Yeah! Yeah, absolutely! I—I gotta go! But I’ll be back by three! You better be here!”

“I will!”

**…**

_ … _

**…**

_ Aiba. What just happened?  _

**I believe you asked Inspector Kagami to eat with you.**

_ Did I ask him for a date? _

**Depends. Do you want to date everyone you ask to have lunch with you?**

_ Well… _

**That means, by this logic, you are in a relationship with Boss, Pewter, Ota, Iris, and Renju.**

_ Okay. Fine. It’s not a date. _

**Do you want it to be?**

_ … _

_ Aiba! We need to get to work! _

**Is that an order?**

_ It absolutely is! _

The thing is it did not make sense for Date to be into men. He’s always been into girls, for as long as he remembers. It’s always been girls, it’s always been porno magazines of girls, it’s always—

“Thank you for eating with me, Date!” Kagami smiles at him.

It’s so hard to not stare when he doesn’t have the mask on. He’s cute. The smiles he gives to Date are cute. 

“It doesn’t happen often that someone eats with me,” Kagami explains, blushing a bit. He’s cute. “I’m shy. I know it’s bad for men to be shy, but—”

“I like it,” Date says quicker than expected. “It’s cute that you’re shy,” he clarifies like that’d help out anything.

If anything, it kind of made it worse. It gets a happy reaction, though, Kagami goes back to smiling and Date feels better.

Hm.

He needs professionals to talk about this.

**□ □ □**

At Marble, with Mama and Pewter, Date needs a few drinks to get started.

“Men,” Date begins stupidly.

Pewter looks at him, tilting his head. “Yes?”

“You like men,” Date says. Maybe the drinks weren’t a good idea. “How did you know?”

“When I was in my twenties,” Pewter shrugs. “One day I met a guy, and it was like I had seen one for the first time. My heart sped up, and it all pretty much clicked. Why are you asking me?”

“I think...” Date takes another swig, “I think I might like them, too.”

Pewter’s eyes widen, and Mama is definitely shaken to her core. “Date, honey, are you drunk?”

“Just tipsy, but, I’m not saying nonsense,” He sounds so much less convincing right now. “I think. I might like this guy. But it doesn’t mean I like men, right? Maybe I just like  _ one  _ man. Kagamisexual.”

Mama is about to say something, and Date continues before she can, “And that’s the thing, I—I respect you guys a lot. I feel like I shouldn’t feel like this. Because. I’ve always liked girls. I feel disrespectful now.”

Now, Mama laughs, but Date is having a hard time figuring it out if she’s laughing at the confession or if he said something funny. 

“Oh, honey,” she shakes her head, amused, “you’re not disrespectful at all.”

“I’d say the only way you could be disrespectful is by saying that… what was it you just said?  _ Kagamisexual _ ?” Pewter also sounds amused. When did Date become a comedian? “You’re invalidating actual identities by saying that. Of course you want to date one man right now—you are attracted to him, not every single man in the world.”

“…Doesn’t that prove my point?”

“No, Date,” Pewter shakes his head, “It means that if you ever stop liking him, there might be another man you meet who you’ll end up liking.”

“Oh,” That made a bit of sense. “And what if it turns out that I don’t like men at all?”

Mama pats his shoulder, “Then it’s still going to be okay. Honey, seriously, it’s not rocket science!”

Date pouts and stares at his drink. “Feels like it.”

“Glad you realized, though. Inspector Kagami and you have been going at this for a while now.”

“Is that why you don’t sound shocked?!” Date whips his head up, “You knew?!”

“Well, no, you just told me now,” Pewter shrugs. “I had my suspicions.”

_ … _

**...**

_ … _

**…**

_ I’m too tipsy to understand this. _

**You are the one who suggested drinks.**

_ I regret it. _

□ □ □

**Since you keep going on about “needing evidence”, I have collected all the times you absolutely found a man attractive.**

_ Aiba, I’m trying to sleep. I’ll wake up hungover. _

**Wednesday 13** **th** **, a month ago. A man held out the door for you and you got extremely shy and embarrassed. After that, you kept going back to think about his smile.**

_ …I did that? _

**Saturday 23** **rd** **, two months ago. You bought a porno magazine that only had men pictures.**

_ I got the wrong one! _

**You willingly picked it up, skimmed through the images, said “Nice,” and paid for it.**

_ Okay, maybe I did that. _

**Same month, Monday 10** **th** **. Kagami took off his mask and you told him he was handsome.**

_ He is handsome. _

**Point proven. Three months ago—**

_ I get it! Stop! _

_ …But I still like women, though? _

**They are not mutually exclusive. You can like men and women.**

_ I can? _

**Let me ask you two questions. Number one, are you familiar with the LGBT community?**

_ Yes. _

**I see. Number two, what does the B stand for?**

_ Bisexual—oh. _

**Yes. Congratulations, Date, you are a bisexual.**

_ Oh, god. _

□ □ □

When Date wakes up the next day, it’s like everyone can see the realization he came to. “Everyone” means Mizuki, and by “see” he means he’s too jittery about it, and blurts it over breakfast.

“I have something to tell you,” Date starts. “I think… I might…”

Mizuki stares at him, intently. “Yes?”

“I’m bisexual,” Date says. Oh my god that felt like…something. “Thought I’d tell you first.”

“Oh!” Mizuki perks up. “Yeah! I mean, you’re seeing Inspector Kagami, aren’t you? But glad you told me first.”

What?

Was it that easy?

“Oh, okay,” Date continues eating. “And you’re okay with that?”

“Yeah. Did you forget Daddy and Pewter were together? Aiba, have you decreased his medicine?”

“No.”

Date rolls his eyes—well, eye. “I was just making sure.”

“Yeah, Date, it’s fine.”

“So you won’t mind if I ever bring over Kagami?”

“…Maybe just text me so I’ll go to Sunfish Pocket or something.”

“Why?”

“So you two can be alone?” Mizuki puffs her cheeks, “Seriously, Date, you’re more stupid than usual today!”

“Am not! I’m my regular stupid!”

□ □ □

“Boss,” Date starts. This is a little too nerve-wracking. “What’s the policy on relationships here? Can I date someone from work?”

Boss looks up, eyeing him suspiciously. “Who?”

Deep breath. “Inspector Kagami?”

“Oh. Yeah, it’s fine.”

What? That’s all?

“You do realize what that means, right?” Date continues. Maybe she didn’t listen? “I’m bisexual.”

“Oh, sorry, do you want party poppers?” She looks  _ amused. _ Something tells Date she might’ve anticipated this already. “Woohoo! Congrats on being bisexual, Date! Way to go!”

“Alright, I get it,” Date looks at her, annoyed. “So you knew too?”

“I thought you wanted us to know already, when you kept flirting with Inspector Kagami,” Boss smiles. “But thank you for telling me. Proud of you.”

“Um, thanks.” Date shuffles awkwardly. “So there really are no problems?”

“Nope. Zero.”

“Okay.” Date sits down on the sofa. “I gotta say, this is a lot more anticlimatic than I expected.”

“Yeah, well, when you’re bisexual you learn to identify other bisexuals. It’s our radar, you could say.”

“Oh, cool.” Wait. “Boss? You too?!”

Boss keeps typing away on her computer.

“Boss?!”

“I figured I should give you my number,” Date says after yet another lunch with Kagami. “So we don’t always have to go out looking for the other at work.”

“W-woah, Date…” Kagami immediately takes out his phone. “Please put your number here!”

This is fun. He hopes these things can escalate to actual, serious dates. He enjoys Kagami’s presence and he’s funnier the more comfortable he gets with Date. 

“Feel free to text me about anything!” Kagami blurts out immediately after sending a message to Date’s phone. “I sent you a gif of a puppy so you save my number.”

Date looks down to see the puppy gif – cute, waving its tail happily and with the letters spelling “hello!”

“You’re so cute,” Date shakes his head, fondly, and finds himself proud when he sees Kagami flushing again. He enjoys it. 

“You too, Date!”

Now  _ he’s  _ the one flushing.

□ □ □

“Date, who are you texting so much?” Iris asks, teasing. “Is it your girlfriend?”

Date stares at the meme Kagami sent him. Definitely not a girlfriend.

“Uh, this guy I’m seeing,” Date finds it easier to say now. “I hope he wants to date me.”

“Date, you’re bi?” asks Ota from the kitchen.

“Yup.”

“That’s awesome!” Iris exclaims, “who is it? Is it the Inspector?”

“How did you know?”

“I thought you guys were always flirting to each other! Or, at least, Mizuki said so.”

“Mizuki…”

“So, Date,” Ota calls and for a second, Date gets worried he might have something bad to say. “Do you want ketchup on your omelet rice?”

“Ah! No, it’s fine like this! Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!”

□ □ □

_ Aiba. Why is no one shocked at this? _

**My calculations suggest that in this day and age, people are more accepting and used to having LGBT people in their circle of friends.**

_ That makes sense, but, me specifically. No one seems shocked. Have you always known? _

**I am connected to your brain, Date. I know a thing or two about you, to put it simply.**

_ Hm. That’s true. So you were just waiting for me to catch up? _

**Precisely.**

_ …Thanks, Aiba. I’m glad I came to terms with it myself. _

_ You know, you’re a pretty good best friend. _

**Huh?**

**Best friend?**

_ Yeah? _

**Oh. Nothing. Y-You too.**

□ □ □

**Date, I have downloaded onto my database fifteen different articles on how to confess to your crush. Let me know if you need them.**

It shouldn’t be awfully hard to ask him out, right? He hasn’t rejected Date so far, and if he read between the lines, it almost seemed like he felt the same way towards Date.

He hoped so, or else this entire self-discovering journey would be even more anticlimatic than his moment with Boss.

“So,” Date starts while they’re walking back from lunch.  _ Aiba, send a text to Mizuki. Tell her to go to Sunfish Pocket.  _ **Roger that.** “Do you… maybe, want to watch a movie at my place?”

“What?”

“I like you,” he says, feeling just a little bit too exposed. “I’d like to… see where this goes.”

Kagami holds his hand and Date is about to jump through a roof. “Me too. What are we watching?”

**Date, your heartbeat is increasing steadily fast. Do you need a little shock?**

_ What? No! I’m fine! Can you go into power saving mode or something? For three hours? Thanks! _

**Fine. Have fun on your date.**

Date grins at the word. Then continues, “We’ll watch whatever you feel like watching.”

**Author's Note:**

> *taps mic* date kaname is bisexual bc i say so and im bisexual and hes my icon so like... cant argue w my logic. 
> 
> ive got a twitter where i go 'hh date' sometimes @joshriku :] thank you for reading!!!!


End file.
